The Heat is On
Taking the Steam out of Boiler Problems

The rarely stated—but all too well understood—Murphy’s Law for Boilers— asserts that if your boiler quits working, it will do so on Christmas or New
Year’s Eve, or at 4:45 p.m. on the coldest day of the year. With some planning,
though, that broken-down boiler won’t be yours on those inopportune frigid days. An association’s management and staff can head off a worst-case scenario by scheduling regular
maintenance and keeping an educated eye on the whole system.

To avoid that irksome phone call to a technician—along with everyone else whose boiler seems to have “picked now” to stop working, a little maintenance goes a long way and breakdowns are
preventable. Understanding a boiler’s life expectancy and tending to boiler maintenance can avoid the no-heat nights
(and days) that seem to happen at the most inconvenient times.

You know the old saying in real estate, “location, location, location?” For boiler care, it’s (the admittedly less catchy) mantra of “maintenance, maintenance, maintenance.” Lack of routine, preventative maintenance inevitably leads to problems, says
Phil Renzi, senior property manager at Thayer & Associates in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Don’t just “turn it on [when the season starts] and expect it to run,” he cautions, because he has seen the aforementioned scenario play out many
times before. So much of what happens in an emergency situation is not, in
fact, an emergency—or needn’t be, if cautionary steps are taken in advance.

Maintenance Musts

Boilers are durable for many decades—or used to be, anyway. Vintage matters: Steven Dannin, president of Dannin
Management in Brookline, Massachusetts, says in his experience, older boilers
have a longer life span. “In the past 20 years,” he says, “I’ve replaced boilers that were 30 or 50 years old. In our last project, we took
out two 50-year-old boilers. The newer ones are more efficient but the older
boilers were built to last.”

David Barrett, who serves as director of operations for Crowninshield Management
Corporation in Peabody, Massachusetts, adds that the high-efficiency stainless
steel boilers that have emerged recently last about 25 years. Although the
boilers themselves don’t last as long as the cast iron ones, the savings in fuel costs offset the
shorter life expectancy. That being said, the boilers “have to be run at the proper temperature as suggested by the manufacturer, or
they can decay prematurely.”

CAI's Community Association Law Seminar is brought to you by the College of Community Association Lawyers (CCAL). The program is developed each year as part of CCAL's commitment to advancing the knowledge and practice of community association law.​ The Law Seminar provides a unique learning opportunity to discuss emerging trends and legislative issues important to the practice of community a​ssociation law—as well as excellent opportunities for professional networking. For information, www.caionline.org.

Community association board meetings, committee meetings, and even annual general membership meetings can be successful by taking simple steps to eliminate chaos and confusion. In this webinar, you’ll learn how to keep everyone happy—including the community association member who seems to complain about everything—with seven easy strategies that eliminate tiresome misunderstandings that plague productivity. Register today for a crash course on how to avoid major mistakes that often cause meetings to go off the rails and into disorder. Members: USD $69.00 , Non-Members:USD $99.00. For information, visit www.caionline.org.

The Business of Running your Community Rates $50 - CAI Members $100 - Non-Members Do you serve on the board of your association? Are you considering serving? Whether you are a seasoned board member, a recently elected board member or unit owner wanting to understand more about how an association runs, this is course it for you! Contact Ellen Felix, ellen@caict.org , 860-633-5692.

The safety and security of community association residents and their guests is a common issue for residential communities, but new concerns like increased drug use and abuse, potential active shooter situations, and police and security violence require a new level of education and preparedness. In this webinar, you’ll learn about emerging and essential issues facing community associations and community association managers when it comes to safety and security. Register today to get tools and strategies to limit and mitigate risk within your community, including how to use technology, training, and policies to improve overall resident satisfaction. For information, visit www.caionline.org.

CAI-CT prides itself on offering professional conferences for our members. We bring together the finest industry resources and put them all together in one place to create an informative community association event like no other. Be part of the action. Our conference consistently draws well over 500 decision makers in the Condo/HOA market. Exhibit your company at our next show! For information, visit www.caict.org.

A conservation group is demanding answers from the Massachusetts Port Authority and a development firm, citing a possible conflict of interest if the company is allowed to build condos, offices and shops at a decommissioned power plant in South Boston.
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DO NEW HAMPSHIRE condominium owners have the same rights as other homeowners? The answer is “NO.” Many condo owners in NH are upset over the change in the state condominium law that took place Aug. 1, 2016.
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1/15/2019
Ayanna Pressley's Condo Hits Market For $409K - Patch

1/15/2019
Ayanna Pressley's Condo Hits Market For $409K - Patch

Ayanna Pressley, the first black woman to represent Massachusetts in U.S. Congress, has put her of the 897-square-foot condo in Dorchester up for sale. If you've ever wondered what a Boston City Councilor's home looks like, now's your chance to take a look inside.
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Two condo units in a new boutique development along the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway sold for $4 million-plus each, but a Second Empire town house that dropped for $6.6 million topped our weekly tally of the priciest sales — and Multiple Listing Service records for the biggest sale of a single-family home in the South End.
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1/3/2019
Home prices hit record high in November - Dorchester Reporter

1/3/2019
Home prices hit record high in November - Dorchester Reporter

More single-family homes were sold in Massachusetts last November than in any November before that, according to real estate market analysts, who also noted that they were sold for a higher medium price than in any previous eleventh month.
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The Greater Boston home and condo market enjoyed strong sales through November as more buyers enter the fold. Previous months had seen growing inventory amid excessively high prices. However, buyers in November shrugged off concerns over interest rates and the broader economy to make it the strongest November on record for home sales, according to the Greater Boston Association of Realtors.
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FALL RIVER — A 72-year-old woman was killed, and a second person was critically injured, after the car they were in crashed into an apartment complex here New Year’s Day and struck a natural gas line that sparked a massive fire, officials said.
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New figures released by the Rhode Island Association of Realtors show that Realtor-assisted single-family home sales in South County were down slightly last month, compared with November 2017. A total of 142 homes changed hands, 5 fewer than the closings in the same month a year earlier.
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South Boston residents fed up with condo development are turning to elected leaders for help after they say the Boston Planning & Development Agency has ignored their concerns about a 1,300-unit housing development proposed to replace the old Edison power plant.
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If you own a home in Brookline, property taxes will be going up again overall next year. But Brookline has several tax relief programs to help ease the pain for those owners who might need it most.
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New England Condominium

Welcome to the new online edition of New England Condominium newspaper. The publication serves the New England Condo, HOA and co-op community with informative free articles on management, finance, maintenance and more...